Gin
by TCGeek
Summary: Though Victor casts everyone else out while a patient at Caduceus, Derek isn't about to give up that easy. Oneshot Request


**Okay, this is an extreeemely late request for Tristan-the-Dreamer, a oneshot about her favorite character - a one Dr. Victor Niguel.**

**Sorry this took so long, and sorry it sucks - I suffer from a horrible case of writers block lately, as well as extreme exhaustion.**

**But anyway, enough babbling about the suckiness. Hope you like it :D**

* * *

Every time the doors to Victor's lab opened and another person walked in, he couldn't help but roll his eyes and sigh. Now a force of habit, all that dared to bother Victor in the lab were well aware of this tradition, most finding his annoyance hilarious.

Especially included in this was Dr. Tyler Chase, who loved annoying any and everyone around him – especially the black-haired grumpy-pants researcher. It was just so, easy.

"What'cha workin' on Victor?" Tyler asked, approaching the researcher who just glared at him angrily from behind his face mask.

"Better question is, why aren't _you_ working…"

Victor carefully picked up the beaker with his sample in it, setting it up on a ring stand above a Bunsen burner; the flame just tickling the bottom of the glass.

Tyler hopped up onto one of the lab benches with a whine. "There's nothing to doooo… no patients... no anything!"

Victor sent him another annoyed glare.

"What?"

The agitated researcher pointed to a bottle of disinfectant just to Tyler's left. "First, get your ass off my lab bench. Second, take that bottle and clean where your ass touched my lab bench. Third, don't ever put your ass on my lab bench again."

Tyler was taken slightly aback, but followed orders, happy to have something to do.

"You never told me what you were working on dude…" Tyler said, wiping down the lab bench that was previously graced with his posterior. "And I'm surprised you could even find something to do – its so sloooow…"

Victor cringed at his words. "Hmph. Maybe it's a slow day for those… _less productive_ members of the team. But for those of us who are always trying to stay one step ahead and know that there is always something that can be improved, it's actually a fairly busy day."

"…but you still haven't told me what you—"

"PNEUMONIA, Dr. Chase…. Pneumonia."

Victor's snap barely phased Tyler, who was removing his gloves and throwing the used paper towels in the trash.

"Okay, okay… geez. I'll leave you to it, ya grumpy fart."

Victor was nearly seething now as Chase laughed, apparently finding himself hilarious.

"Oh, one more thing…." Tyler continued, walking closer to Victor who was no longer paying him any attention.

"In our boredom we started a small game, and…"

He shot out his hand, smacking Victor in the shoulder.

"TAG! You're… oh shit."

The beaker that Victor was ready to transfer was now hurdling towards the ground, shattering upon immediate contact. The protective cover had come off, the highly infectious sample now wafting through the air.

"Get out! NOW!" Victor yelled, scurrying round the lab to clean up the sample before he had to do a massive amount of sterilization.

Tyler just paused, unsure of what he should do until he started walking towards Victor, still a considerate distance away.

"STOP!" Victor yelled at him, the blonde stopping in his tracks. "This thing is as infectious as SARS, and nearly as deadly – get out!"

"But…"

"GET, OUT!"

In a flash Tyler was gone, leaving Victor to clean up the rest of the mess by himself – and on very few occasions besides this had the lab been littered with so many profane words.

----------

"So, run this by me again?" Sidney asked, looking between Tyler and Derek.

"We need to test him, but he refuses to leave the lab. He's barricaded himself in." Derek explained, looking to Tyler for backup.

"And, what are we testing him for?" Sidney inquired, trying to figure out what the two young doctors were talking about.

"A very bad strain of pneumonia." Derek replied, Tyler still silent with his head slightly hung. "The mutated strain they've been working with recently…"

Derek shot a look to Tyler, annoyed that he was having to explain all this to Sidney.

Sidney rose from his chair, still eyeing them.

"Alright, I'll go talk to him…" the director reluctantly agreed, fumbling with his keys until he was holding the key for the lab.

"Thanks Sidney…" Derek said, walking from the room with Tyler and Sidney in tow. As soon as the director was gone, Derek turned to his best friend.

"What's with you? Why did I have to explain all that stuff?"

The blonde looked away, beginning to walk away from Derek.

"You know what, you didn't even tell me how you knew that he got infected!"

Tyler stopped short, turning back around to look at Derek, who was waiting for an answer. He giggled just a little bit, looking to the left and right for anyone around as he lowered his voice.

"Remember that game of tag we had going earlier…?"

----------

Hovering over the sample that he was able to salvage from the floor, Victor was once again hard at work, until a hand grasped his arm and dragged him away from his research and out the door.

"What are you – let go of me?!" Victor fought as he was dragged down the hall.

"Lisa, page Dr. Stiles to exam room three please." Sidney said bluntly to the secretary of the floor, earning a smile and a nod from the black haired woman.

Victor was pulled into a room and forced to sit on the exam table nearly against his will, held there by Sidney's constant threats to cut down his time in the lab. A mask was immediately slapped on Victor's face, and as it was being tied he noticed that Sidney had been wearing one all along.

"What is this…?" he asked, just as Derek stepped in the room in full protective gear.

"We have to test you for mutated pneumonia…" the surgeon replied, Sidney stepping back into the corner and out of the way. "I'm going to run a few tests here and then you'll need a chest x-ray."

"I don't have pneumonia – I feel fine!" he yelled, feeling quite lightheaded as his temper flared.

"Doesn't matter how you feel, you're getting tested and that's that. Now sit there like a big boy and… Victor…? VICTOR!?"

Sidney's ramblings were cut off as the young black haired man's eyes rolled back into his head, his top half slumping to his left until he was falling. Quick reflexes allowed Derek to catch him before he fell completely off the side where he quickly lowered him back onto the table into a more comfortable position.

Sidney just sighed, watching his top researcher lose consciousness and nearly all the color in his already pale face.

"I'll get a gurney…" Kasal muttered, flagging down a nurse as he walked from the room.

----------

"Ugh…."

Victor's first words came nearly an hour after his collapse, his exhaustion helping to put his thoughts so eloquently.

"Tell me about it…" Sidney groaned from a chair in the corner of the room. "You take forever to wake up."

Victor slowly turned to the left to see Derek with a clipboard in his hand, scribbling notes onto the paper in front of him.

"What's going on…?" Victor asked meekly, trying as best he could to sit up with his shaking form.

"Well…" Derek responded, finishing the last of his scribbles as he hung the arm that had the clipboard down by his side. "You collapsed. While you were sleeping and unable to protest, we tested you, and it turns out that you were infected with that pneumonia strain."

"Dammit…" he groaned, leaning back. "Well, good thing I was thinking ahead – the plans for the medication are on the lab bench that I was viciously pulled away from… have Doug go ahead and draw them up. Then I should be out of here tomorrow."

Sidney and Derek exchanged a glance, silently battling with one another. After a short silence, Sidney was the one to speak.

"Actually Victor, you won't be back tomorrow… or the next day."

Victor's eyes narrowed into little angry slits, prompting Derek to step back just a bit. "What are you talking about Chief?"

"We're going to give you the medication for this, but then you are going home… until the week after next."

"TWO WEEKS?!" Victor roared, obviously very unhappy with the plans. "You're outta your mind – I can't be gone two weeks!"

With an annoyed groan, Victor laid back against the pillow after Derek motioned for him to settle down.

"I'm calm, okay?!" he snapped to the surgeon who just backed away and let Sidney handle it. Victor turned his attention back to the director, noting that he wasn't going to budge from his position. For as stubborn as Victor could be, he had never met a more hard-headed human being than Sidney Kasal.

"Chief, I'll take two days off… WITHOUT pay – I can't afford two weeks though! R&D will get NOTHING done – that's a guarantee!"

"I'll oversee that they do, and this is non-negotiable. We can't have you working on things again until you are fully healed, and two days isn't going to cut it. This is final, Niguel."

"But, I'll do paperwork…"

"Final."

Victor crossed his arms as Sidney left the room, giving into his superior's request…

…or so he thought.

Just then Sidney popped his head back in, walking next to his bed where he looked at him quizzically.

"I know Chase had something to do with it, but how did this really happen?"

Victor raised an eyebrow, reached up, and slapped Sidney in the shoulder.

"Tag. You're it."

Sidney shook his head and walked from the room, Derek following shortly after trying to hide his smile. Hours later he returned with Victor's medication and sent the researcher home for what if Victor was concerned, was going to be a very short vacation.

----------

Crack of dawn, just like every other morning, Victor's car was the first to pull into the Caduceus parking lot, accompanying only those there for security.

His body trembled and nearly gave out on him a great number of times before he finally made it into the building, stopping for a minute to have a rest on a bench.

"_Pull it together Niguel, you're going to let a little pneumonia beat you?_"

"I'm not going to let it beat me…" he muttered to himself, earning an inquisitive stare from the security guard. Victor shot a dirty look his way, paying him very little mind as he trudged off to the lab.

"Sidney thinks he can ban me… I'll just work until I get kicked out!" he said to himself slyly, feeling glad that he could outsmart almost anyone.

A pale shaky hand passed his name badge through the reader on the outside of the lab, and with pure instinct he pressed on the handle to the door and shoved his weight forward, only earning a faceful of glass instead of entrance to the lab.

Looking down, Victor's dark eyes noticed that the light on the reader was blinking red.

Red. As in, no entry.

With a humph and a large shiver, Victor tried again and again, earning the "Access Denied" message each time. Now shaking violently from chills and incredibly pissed off at the injustice, Victor realized something important.

He could outsmart almost anyone.

The 'almost' in that phrase had a very definite identity to it – one of a Director Sidney Kasal.

Profanities came spilling from his mouth in large amounts, right up until the moment that his exhausted body hit the floor once more in its unconscious state.

And lucky for Victor, Sidney walked around the corner a few minutes later and transferred him to a room, knowing full well that he would find him there.

----------

"Put this under your tongue."

"I don't have a fever. I'm fine."

"Yeah, people pass out all the time from "fine"… Open your mouth."

Even though he was being quite difficult, Angie still had a smile on her face as she popped the thermometer into Victor's mouth, frowning as she saw the reading and wrote it down.

"Fine also doesn't give a reading of nearly 103…" she added. "I'll go get you some ice chips."

"I don't want ice. I want to be left alone!" he barked, watching as the smile wiped off of Angie's face. He felt a twang of guilt at his reaction to her, but said nothing as she opened a nearby drawer and pulled a "Quarantine" sticker from it, slapping it on his chart.

"Better?" she asked with a smile, placing the chart outside the door.

"Much…" he replied, before drifting into sleep once more.

----------

Days passed and Victor had barely had any human contact besides the necessary checkups. The label Angie had affixed to his chart had done wonders for his peace of mind, but when every time he woke up he was met with a dull silence, some part of him almost felt… lonely.

"_Snap out of it Niguel – you're sick... you know you don't want those idiots in here talking your ear off and making out with each other..."_

Tyler Chase, still afraid of Victor's wrath, was the first to enter the bed-ridden researcher's room that morning, his nervous smile hidden by a protective mask.

"Hey – just wanted to see you were…"

"Get out." Victor interjected, eyes not even opening as he cast the surgeon out.

"Alright then…" he replied, turning right back around and closing the door behind him.

Moments later the door opened again and Derek walked in, hearing Victor sigh from his bed.

"I told you Chase, I will find a way to kill you from this be—"

Victor stopped his rant as he looked up to see Derek standing in front of him laughing.

"Oh, I thought you were that _other_ idiot…" he mumbled, the comment not going unnoticed by Derek, though he ignored it.

"I just wanted to say I'm going out for some food, and I know how bad hospital food is – do you want something?"

"No, I don't want anything." he replied promptly, rolling over with his back now to Derek.

"You should eat…"

"I said, nothing…"

Derek smirked and crossed his arms, knowing just the thing that would change Victor's mind.

"Okay fine, I get the hint – I'll just send Tyler in here with your lunch then."

Victor's eyes widened and in a flash he was rolled over facing Derek again.

"Taco Bell. I don't care what, just, Taco Bell."

This elicited a chuckle from the brunette surgeon, who just nodded and smiled.

"Thought that would do it – be back soon."

Waiting until he was a little while gone, Victor rose from his bed and removed the bag of saline drip from the IV stand, affixing it to the stand equipped on a wheelchair in the corner of the room. He wheeled himself to the door of his room, donned a protective mask as not to spread his infection, and wheeled himself out of the room and down towards the lab.

Pulling his badge from his lap, no sooner did Victor get it near the reader than he heard a voice behind him – belonging to Sidney.

"It's still locked. Try again, and you're off another week."

"Ugh, FINE!!" Victor yelled, muttering things under his breath as he wheeled himself back to his room. Closing the door behind him and hanging the bag attached to his IV on the stand once more, Victor tried his best to push out of the chair, finding that he was took weak to even rise from his seated position. Again and again he tried, each time met with failure, until even trying was too much for his body to handle. He fell asleep in the chair until the moment that Derek walked in, immediately ditching the bag with chicken quesadillas in it to help Victor back into bed. When he was situated, Derek plopped the bag in his lap, watching his eyes light up.

"Chicken quesadillas… my favorite." he said quietly.

"Yeah, I remember…" Derek said, scratching at the back of his head idly. "That time we met for Cybil's birthday party at the Mexican place, you had so many I lost count…"

Derek chuckled at the memory, earning a slight smirk from Victor as he gobbled one of his quesadillas up.

"Hey, maybe when you're done eating do you want to play a game of gin, or something?"

Victor blinked in surprise. Why was he being so nice? Didn't he read the 'quarantine' label?

"You know…" Victor started. "Thanks for lunch, but you better go, or else you and your fiancée MAY not meet your 'sucking face' quota for the day…"

Instead of becoming all offended like the subjects of Victor's angry sarcasm usually did, Derek just rolled his eyes and smiled, stepping out of the room.

"_That's better – just me, and my quesadillas…"_ he thought to himself, staring blankly at the ceiling as he chewed. An arm reached up and wiped sweat off of his forehead as he swallowed the bite in his mouth, silence interrupted once more as the door flew open and Angie came charging in, followed by Derek. Victor and Angie were both confused as to what was going on, staring at Derek who had his attention still on his sick friend.

"Play a game of gin!" Derek demanded with a smile.

"No! Get out!" Victor snapped back, pointing a finger towards the door as he took another big bite of his food.

"Why am I here? I'm on break!" Angie questioned with an unhappy whine.

"You don't have to be here – go back to break!" Victor interjected, laying back down as he began to feel woozy again.

"Hang on Ang, this'll just take a second…" Derek responded, still turned towards the bed.

"Victor – you haven't had human interaction for days… that sticker that _someone_ put on your chart is working all too well…" he started, sending a look Angie's way who just smiled.

"Good, that's the way I—"

"Agree to a card game…" Derek continued, completely ignoring Victor's previous comment. "…Or Angie and I try for our "quota" right here in your room."

"Quota? What quota?" Angie asked, watching Derek and Victor glare at one another – Victor with contempt, Derek with a smile.

The black-haired man rolled his eyes with a 'tch', face displaying all the skepticism in the world.

"You're bluffing." Victor noted bluntly.

Derek raised an eyebrow, eyes still locked with Victor as he reached to his side and grabbed Angie's arm, gently pulling her towards him. When Victor still did not agree, Derek pulled down his mask and turned towards his fiancée, whose expression could not have been more confused if she tried. He pulled down her mask as well, leaning in closer and closer…

"OOKKAAAAAYYYY!" Victor shouted, breaking up the scene before he had to go have his eyeballs surgically removed. "Fine, you win – ONE game…"

Derek smiled in triumph and replaced the masks on both his and Angie's faces, giving her a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Thanks Ang, enjoy your break!" he chirped, opening the door for her. She still stared at him confusedly, slowly walking from the room.

"Um… sure…?" she replied still confused, closing the door behind her.

Derek sat down at the foot of Victor's bed, pulling the dinner tray over the two of them where he began to deal out cards.

"You're going down…" he taunted, watching as even through Victor's drained expression came a hint of his game face. He moved slowly to sit up, grabbing the cards in his hand as he and Derek prepared to do battle.

----------

One game quickly turned into two, and two games into two hours of extremely competitive Gin.

Locked in a stalemate, Victor picked up a card and examined it, placing another one down.

"Gin." he stated proudly, laying down his hand.

Derek scoffed, looking at his own hand – which had been a perfect Gin for nearly four rounds.

But when he looked at Victor's triumphant and happy expression, Derek realized that the fact he was finally enjoying himself meant more than bragging rights, so he slapped his hand face down on the table.

"You got me…" he said with a smile and a yawn, stretching his arms over his head.

His stretch was interrupted by Angie poking her head in the door and asking for him in the hallway. He excused himself momentarily, throwing out the empty coffee and water cups they had acquired on his way.

And when he walked back in a few seconds later, Victor noted a giant smile on his face.

"_Wait... his smile._"

"You're not wearing your mask…" Victor pointed out, watching Derek chuckle.

"I don't need it – you're no longer contagious." he explained, walking over to update his chart. "Looks like whatever you got done before you collapsed the other day was a heck of a medication – even though we caught it extremely early, a week is an extremely fast amount of time in which to get out of the contagious stage. Looks like you don't have much longer to go!"

Silence fell again between the two, this time, broken by Victor.

"Hey Stiles…?"

"Hmm?" he replied, still scribbling on the chart.

"Wanna play again sometime?"

The comment caught Derek completely by surprise, evident by him nearly dropping his pen.

Quick to correct the mistake of sounding too sincere, Victor jumped to speak again. "I-I mean, if you don't mind getting slaughtered again…"

Derek's shocked expression was replaced by a warm smile and a chuckle.

"Sure thing – same time tomorrow?" he asked, earning a nod from Victor.

"Thanks Stiles… I uh… I really…"

"Anytime." Derek replied, catching the drift as he held the door open and smiled at Victor once more.

"Oh, and, would you send Angie in for a minute?" Victor asked, watching Derek's face contort into a look of confusion.

"Sure… See ya – and glad you're feeling better."

Victor nodded as the door closed itself, swinging open again as Angie popped in.

"Derek said you wanted to see me?" she asked, watching as one of Victor's pale hands reached over to his nightstand, IV still intact.

"I had this made earlier – put it up on the door to the lab, would ya?" he asked as he handed the paper to the blonde. She took it with a smile and removed herself from the room – and Victor smiled when he heard her start to crack up in the hallway, sharing it with Derek who shared in her laughter.

And from that day on, the door to the research lab had a large picture of Tyler Chase's face on it, the words "NO ADMITTANCE" written across it in red permanent marker.

* * *

**Haha, how hard would you laugh to see a big smiling picture of Tyler on a lab door with the words "NO ADMITTANCE" sketched over it?**

**Anyway Tris, hope you liked it - if you want me to redo it or take another stab at it I will.**

**Adios! **


End file.
